Ola chicos

Once again, have been procrastinating with my blog, and everything else as matter of fact.   So last time, I left you, I had just park the chassis more or less completed of the Triumph.  As a matter of fact, all was completed except on little, tiny thing.  That is the back brake.   The triumph engine has the brake on the left foot peg and at brake drum on the right side.  With the rear end coming from the Yamaha, I still have to find a way to handle it.  Would be easy if it was regular brake but drum brake will be a challenge.   We'll see how it works out. 


But this month, I started with my personal pic for support of Breast Cancer.

not bad eh?? 


Awright, now back to business.  I have to be honest, have done more or less f.. all for last few months.  Just been enjoying the ride.  I kicked started the XT500 and took it for a spin but the bloody carb is way out of sync, so will need to show more than just TLC. 

She is parked now in my little shed in the back yard, awaiting my stamina to come back.  
Meanwhile, had to do something, so I picked up one of the CT70.    I figured, it was small enough to get myself going. 


Within minutes the thing was parted into pieces. 

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Then I got stuck trying to split the case apart.  Those bloody engineer simply used screw to connect the case, why could not they use normal Allen bolt.   I need to heat them up to split them apart but got no tools for that.  Gotta get my a.. to lowes or homedepot to buy those portable flame heater.  Not even sure how they are called.  

Then I got a call from my friends at Ace Motorworks.  They had finally received the Triumph engine back from Dallas for flywheel, gear, and big bore cylinder and piston had been mounted.  Left to be done, mount the gearbox, ignition, starter, etc.....

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Ok so I have got lots of work left. 

And finally, to summarize my last 2 months of procrastinating, I finally got my hands on a Suzuki RV 125.  Some call it Vanvan.  Funny enough when I went to pick it up for a ridiculously low fee, the guy gave me a Z50 as a present.  My daughter will be happy, I will give it to her over Christmas. 

That's all folks

Ola Muchachos

jeee, been a million years since I post something.  Let's try to catch up.  I left you early June building my little garden shed to free up some space in my garage. 

I gotta say, quite proud of myself.  The shed can house approx. 5 bikes.  So, with free space in my workshop, a new sandblaster, a new air compressor horse

and most importantly, space to move around I could start working on the chassis of the Triumph considering I had completed to full dismantling of the engine and sent it to Dallas to have the flywheel balance.

So the idea of the concept was to built a cross over between a MX 360 from 1973 and a Triumph TR6 from 1964.  I started by taking the MX apart,

and strip the front fork and the swingarm. 

It will come as no surprise, the swingarm was 1/4inch too wide for the Triumph frame. 

Grinding here I come... Then I chopped off the back fender of the MX and the Triumph and welded the part back on the frame in order to keep the rear fender look of the MX

Voila.....


Then I did a quick mock-up.  So, I used the Triumph handle bar, and the Triumph Tank which I had clean and prime first.  I used the seat of the MX to complete it.

Not bad isn't it?  I am still struggling, as usual on which paint color to apply but at present am contemplating painting the frame Chocolate brown, and tank and fender, turquoise and yellow, Just like Bill Dodge. 

In the meantime, I had found a cheap frame for my second CT 70, so I quickly mounted on the spare parts the guys had left me when I purchase it from him. 

Back to the Triumph, where I dismantled everything and started preparing the damaged parts,  

then sanding and cleaning

So much bloody rust under the paint.

 But I turns out fine after the primer.  You can also notice on top of the frame that I had to weld a little hook to hold the seat.

 The I decided to try out some light turquoise paint.

 But wasn't satisfied.  Will have to get something bit darker

 So until I get the engine back from Dallas, this one is gonna stay in the shed. 

 Got a headlight from ebay. 

Voila for now.

Ola compadre

Yep, almost 2 months since last update.  I hate to say it but things have been bit crazy on the homefront again.   I have been battling for space in my workshop which is very irritating when you want to get things done.  As a result, I kept postponing work and nothing gets done.  So, I decided it was time to put an end to this.  I use the fact that we were entering the Huriccane season to submit the idea to the Secretary of State to purchase a trailer big enough to store bikes and that could also be used to transport our personnal effect in case of an evacuation.   It met no resistance and shortly thereafter, I was the new owner of a beautiful 6X12 trailer. 

As soon as I got it home, I loaded the off-road bike and head towards the track.   Man....it is so nice to space when you go to the park.

And so easy to load and unloade them

When I got home, I stored the XT, the FLH, my wife sports, and the 2 KTM in it and park it on my small driveaway. 

I was gonna store it inside my house but the trailer is just too wide and tall to fit in my house gate. 
With some ingeniousity, I managed to lock the doors so I could sleep in peace at night without fear of having the trailer and the bikes stolen. 

And just a few days after I thought I had found the perfect solution, I got a call from the neighborhood watchdog to inform me to remove the trailer from my driveaway cause it was against the city ordonance or some shit.....   What a f... bummer.....

So, back at square 1 with all the bikes in the garage and no places to do some real work.   Sad, cause I had spend the only day with the bikes in the trailer to do some work.

I re-did all the wiring on the chopper which had gone haywire and weld some exhaust turn tips so get the fumes out in the air instead of on the back brake. 

 

And since my mind was back at building things, I re-activated the triumph project.  If you'all go back to previous post, you will see that I intend to do a flattrack/off road bike of the 1964 Triumph.   Surfing on Craiglist I found an old 1972 Yamaha MXX 360 chassis for a reasonable price. 

So, the intention is to chop the frame and welded with the center chassis of the Triumph. 
Anyway, while I was a the guys's house, he has few others items that I got my hands on.  A city sign of Houston

some old oil case from the 50's, a railroad stop light and a very unique 70's tank from a Japanese moped.  It reminded me of the beamer R80 tank but smaller.  I will one day find a good use for it.

Problem with craiglist is that you can easily find stuff that are very interesting and very affordable.   So, while I was at it, I found this nice little CT 70 which came with more or less a spare one except the frame. 

And finally, I did get my hands on the XT 500, I had been looking for.  An original 1979 single owner.   I am in love once again

But with the latest purchase, am back at square -1 now.  So, I took it on myself to start building a storage house in my garden.  We'll call it the storage of El Vis. 

That's all for now folk.  hasta luego....